[ISN] Cyber War: Microsoft a weak link in national security

http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2010/06/cyber-war-microsoft-a-weak-link-in-national-security.ars

By Matthew Lasar
Ars Technica
June 9, 2010

    "Microsoft has vast resources, literally billions of dollars in 
    cash, or liquid assets reserves. Microsoft is an incredibly 
    successful empire built on the premise of market dominance with 
    low-quality goods."

Who wrote those lines? Steve Jobs? Linux inventor Linus Torvalds? Ralph 
Nader? No, the author is former White House adviser Richard A. Clarke in 
his new book, Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What 
to Do About It [1].

It has been a few months since Clarke's latest opus appeared, but it's 
still making quite a splash. Clarke, after all, was the guy who 
repeatedly warned the White House about Al Qaeda before September 11, 
2001. As a result, he has quickly become the most publicly identifiable 
person on the subject.

"While it may appear to give America some sort of advantage," Cyber War 
warns, "in fact cyber war places this country at greater jeopardy than 
it does any other nation." The enormous dependence of our financial and 
energy networks on the 'Net open us up to potentially devastating online 
attacks. "It is the public, the civilian population of the United States 
and the publicly owned corporations that run our key national systems, 
that are likely to suffer in a cyber war."    "Microsoft has vast 
resources, literally billions of dollars in cash, or liquid assets 
reserves. Microsoft is an incredibly successful empire built on the 
premise of market dominance with low-quality goods."

Who wrote those lines? Steve Jobs? Linux inventor Linus Torvalds? Ralph 
Nader? No, the author is former White House adviser Richard A. Clarke in 
his new book, Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What 
to Do About It.

It has been a few months since Clarke's latest opus appeared, but it's 
still making quite a splash. Clarke, after all, was the guy who 
repeatedly warned the White House about Al Qaeda before September 11, 
2001. As a result, he has quickly become the most publicly identifiable 
person on the subject.

"While it may appear to give America some sort of advantage," Cyber War 
warns, "in fact cyber war places this country at greater jeopardy than 
it does any other nation." The enormous dependence of our financial and 
energy networks on the 'Net open us up to potentially devastating online 
attacks. "It is the public, the civilian population of the United States 
and the publicly owned corporations that run our key national systems, 
that are likely to suffer in a cyber war."

[1] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0061962236/infosecnews-20

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